Keeping your legs straight when sleeping

lessismore

Hi lessismore. This is one of those times when knowing your injury date and injury level could "help us, help you". But I'll blunder on in.

I'm like you about not wanting to "medicate" for spasticity problems. Only recently, after I'd been paralyzed for two and a half years, I figured out how to do something about exactly what you've asked. And here's my discovery...

I realized that. If I'm lying on my back, and my knee is bent (sticking up in the air), that (with my hands) I can grab the mattress and scoot/push myself just a few inches "up" toward the head of the bed, that that triggers a reflex and my leg will go into a spasm that straightens it out! And then, if I'm too far up in the bed, I can just reverse the actiin and push myself back fown a little. But the leg will stay straight. I haven't told this to anyone online before. Please let me know if you try it and it works for you?

P. S.  I only have one leg, as the other one was amputated at the moment of impact when the car hit me.

Hi hybro. I only saw your post after posting mine.

Sorry about that, lessismore. Is there any spot/situation where you find your legs straightening out on their own? I realized that in my case, every time I was transfering to/from my wheelchair, my leg would straighten out. That's how I figured out how to use that reaction to my advantage.

Yes. Before coming up with my trick, I'd thought, in desperation, of making something like that photo you found. And I wondered the same thing about how my spasticity would react to it. My spasticity has its own timeframe and it doesn't like to be rushed.

Welcome lessismore

Great thread! I encounter this exact same issue and find it to be very annoying. I go to bed with straight legs only to later wake up and find out that they've spasmed into some weird position. Sometimes the spasms are so bad that they cause my legs to tug on the night bag tubing which sometimes pulls my condom catheter right off. I've woken up to mangled legs and a wet bed many times because of that.

I too don't like to take meds for spasm and have never taken meds for spasms. I don't plan on taking them either. What I've found is that not putting a pillow under my feet at night (to off load my heels) helps my legs straighten themselves back out. Sometimes I use a wide pillow that's not as bulky to raise my legs and I find that that works better. Also, I've found that using a big heavy blanket help because I guess it weighs my legs down. I know califanna suggested leg weights which sounds like a great idea but you got to be careful because it could affect circulation or cause sores from being there the whole night.

Since your legs bend at the knee, it'd be more effective to prevent your knees from bending than to prevent your feet from moving. I have had nights where I put my over-the-bed table over my knees (hovering above the knees, not directly on them) and that worked great with preventing the legs from moving around. Only downside to that method is that sometimes the bang of your knees against the tables can wake you (and maybe others) up. If you have a thick blanket or padding under the table to use as protection, it should be fine!

Looking at this from a different angle (no pun intended ... OK .. Pun intended!!)
www.cyclonemobility.com/f.e.s/what-is-fes
Have you ever had FES therapy?
This is a great way to deal with spasm as well as many other health issues.
Are you English? American? Or .... OK, OK, another useful thing to know as the possibilities and resources for different parts of the world can be advised on.
I'm desperately trying to get a FRS bike at the moment!!!

Sshouston...my sentiments exactly. I'd always been careful about staying away from 'medicine', but, you know...a car hits you and you wake up paralyzed...and I thought, "I'm out of my league now. I have to let the 'experts' handle this." Now I wonder how many little fibers of my 'incomplete' might have found their way back together, had it not been for the Baclofen.